Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint The Senate voted (Thursday) to amend S.226, our omnibus affordable housing bill, to include permitting and land use regulation reforms that will make it easier to develop new housing where we most want to see it, in vibrant, walkable downtowns and villages. Making it easier for people to live affordably in our towns and cities is also key to our environmental goals: reducing pollution from transportation and preserving our rural countryside.

​Vermont Business Magazine The annual “98.9 WOKO’s Big Change Roundup for Kids” to support The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital raised a total of $347,029.03, thanks to more than 1,000 donations from patients and families, community members and businesses. This year’s success would not have been possible without our bandits (individual fundraisers), posses (fundraising teams), schools, community groups and volunteers from throughout the region. Also essential were longtime supporters Maplefields (more than $45,000), New England Federal Credit Union (NEFCU) (more than $31,000) and Med Associates (more than $30,000). In addition, NEFCU in Vermont and SeaComm in New York served as collection points for bandits and posses to turn in their loot.

by Jack Hoffman, Public Assets Institute Twenty years ago, Vermont lost a valuable tool that let the state easily adjust state revenues to respond to fluctuating demands for public services. It’s time to find a replacement. In 2002, the state ended the simple, straightforward system for assessing personal income taxes that had been in place for more than 30 years. Vermont stopped using the “piggyback,” whereby the amount of income tax a person owed to Montpelier was calculated from the amount owed to Uncle Sam. Typically, the rate was about 25 percent of a person’s federal tax liability. But it varied, which was the beauty of that system. The strength of the piggyback system—being tied to federal tax policy—was also its weakness.

Vermont up to $4.46, gas prices surge as EU sets stage to curb Russian oil

Vermont Business Magazine It’s going to be a long year for motorists, as gas prices set a fresh record at the pump today, rising above the previous all-time high of $4.35 per gallon set on March 10, according to GasBuddy, the leading fuel savings platform providing North American drivers the most ways to save money on gas. The national average price of gas is now $4.42 per gallon, and could continue to climb through Memorial Day as summer road trip season begins and oil prices remain volatile. Vermont is even higher at $4.46/g.

Vermont Business Magazine The small business community and members of Main Street Alliance and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility applaud the Vermont General Assembly on the passage of S.11, a workforce and economic development bill that would establish a program to provide wage replacement for workers experiencing loss of work for reasons associated with COVID-19. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Vermonters everywhere have been asked to stay home and isolate or care for others in the event of an exposure – and by and large Vermonters have risen to the occasion, not only to keep themselves safe, but to keep those around them safe as well.